Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 899

August 27, 2003Harford County, Maryland; 37 counties in Pennsylvania

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at Aug 27, 2003, 9:40 AM EDT for Harford County, Maryland; 37 counties in Pennsylvania. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Aug 27, 2003, 9:40 AM EDT (13:40 UTC)
Expired
Aug 27, 2003, 3:00 PM EDT
In force
5 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 38 counties

Harford County, MD, Adams County, PA, Allegheny County, PA, Armstrong County, PA, Beaver County, PA, Bedford County, PA, Blair County, PA, Butler County, PA, Cambria County, PA, Centre County, PA, Clarion County, PA, Clearfield County, PA, Columbia County, PA, Cumberland County, PA, Dauphin County, PA, Fayette County, PA, Franklin County, PA, Fulton County, PA, Greene County, PA, Huntingdon County, PA, Indiana County, PA, Jefferson County, PA, Juniata County, PA, Lancaster County, PA, Lawrence County, PA, Lebanon County, PA, Mercer County, PA, Mifflin County, PA, Montour County, PA, Northumberland County, PA, Perry County, PA, Schuylkill County, PA, Snyder County, PA, Somerset County, PA, Union County, PA, Washington County, PA, Westmoreland County, PA, York County, PA

The radar

The State College radar (KCCX), 68 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 13:42 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

Warnings issued inside it

10 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 27, 9:43 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPClearfield62 min
Aug 27, 9:53 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningPBZWashington3 hr
Aug 27, 9:58 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPBlair17 min
Aug 27, 10:04 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningPBZWestmoreland3 hr
Aug 27, 10:05 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPCentre70 min
Aug 27, 10:15 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPHuntingdon45 min
Aug 27, 10:18 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZWestmoreland42 min
Aug 27, 10:27 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPBlair18 min
Aug 27, 10:42 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPMifflin33 min
Aug 27, 2:57 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZGreene48 min

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

The nearest sounding before it

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 12:00Z, 1.7 hours before the alert went out and 120 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Pittsburgh, PA at 12:00Z on 2003-08-27Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1234 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Pittsburgh, PA at 12:00Z on 2003-08-27The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 107 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.
Mixed-layer CAPE
1234 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-53 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
728 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
107 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
172 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.2
Supercell composite
1.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 26, 9:20 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAllegany, Garrett6 hr
Aug 26, 10:18 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllegany, Garrett57 min
Aug 27, 12:22 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCharles53 min
Aug 27, 6:11 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllegany, Garrett, Washington2 hr
Aug 27, 9:23 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllegany, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert, Caroline, Carroll and 17 more2 hr
Aug 27, 10:35 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAllegany, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert, Carroll, Charles and 8 more5 hr
Aug 27, 2:10 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllegany, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert, Carroll, Charles and 8 more65 min
Aug 27, 3:09 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllegany, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert, Carroll, Frederick and 7 more66 min
Aug 27, 3:30 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAllegany, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert, Carroll, Charles and 9 more7 hr
Aug 27, 5:03 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllegany, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert, Carroll, Charles and 10 more87 min
Aug 27, 6:56 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAnne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert, Caroline, Carroll, Cecil and 15 more64 min
Aug 27, 7:30 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCCaroline, Cecil, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne's, Somerset and 3 more4 hr
Aug 27, 11:48 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdams, Allegheny, Beaver, Bedford, Cambria, Columbia and 18 more87 min
Aug 27, 2:05 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCFayette, Greene, Washington, Westmoreland5 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Pennsylvania, 2003Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Maryland, 2003Every severe thunderstorm watch in 2003

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.